Update July 2017 • Doro, South Sudan

Dear Praying Family & Friends,

 

This is a short letter to update all of you on how I am doing and what has been happening in Doro, South Sudan. Thank you so much for your faithful prayers, we are seeing God's hand moving in people and circumstances. It is amazing!

 

First of all, a few of you know that my dear mother had fallen and broken her hip near the end of June. Thank you so much for your prayers. SIM Canada has encouraged me to come home for a short period of time to help both my mother and my sister Heather, who has been caring for her on a daily basis. I arrived here in Campbell River 2 weeks ago. My mom is healing well, however she still feels that her hip is quite weak and painful. She has a walker and seems to be doing well; however she seems to forget and leaves it behind at times. We would appreciate your prayers for her to heal well, decrease in pain and that her stability in walking will return to a normal, steady gait. I will be leaving for Kenya on August 29th, to then return to Doro in the first week of September (Labour Day).

 

Life in Doro continues to be a challenge for many of our South Sudanese families. Many Mabaan families continue to live under trees, waiting for the UN to give them their promised tin for the roofs of their houses that they are in the process of rebuilding. The rainy season is upon us for the past 2 months, and people are now contracting malaria at an alarming rate. I have purchased mosquito nets (200) and flown them up to Doro. I have been giving them out to various families who do not have mosquito nets. This gives me an opportunity to be an encouragement to these dear people, as well as to be able to pray for them as well (never lose an opportunity. :)) . Our Doro clinic has brought in mosquito nets as well, but these are only for pregnant women and children under 5 years old. There are so many people in need here. Thank you for your faithful prayers. They are really appreciated.

 

I have now begun to walk through an open door that the Lord opened for me to minister to women from the Burun Magdolay tribe. There are only a handful of Christians amongst them, with the majority of them who are Moslems. We have Audio Bibles that have been donated to us, and I had brought about 20 of them when I visited with a lovely Christian family (from this tribe). After we finished drinking freshly roasted coffee :) there were about 20 neighborhood ladies who came to me, asking for an Audio Bible. All of these ladies are Muslem. They told me that they are seeking "the Truth" and want to hear the Bible reading for themselves. All of them are illiterate. I had an opportunity to share about Jesus to all of these ladies, who sat their quietly & attentively listening. These Bibles are charged via solar, and so there is no need for batteries. As I was about to leave, their village leader (sheik) came by with his wife asking for an Audio Bible. His wife demanded that I give her one as well, as "he is always off and away from home, and will take it with him, and so I will never get a chance to listen to it!" When I returned the following week, there were 20 more ladies waiting for an Audio Bible! When I return to Doro in September, my plan is to return to this Christian family's home and begin a ladies Bible reading group. Please pray for me as I prepare while I am here in CR with my mom. This will be in Arabic, and I really don't feel that my Arabic is adequate for an in depth Bible study. Please pray that the Lord will provide me an English-speaking Arabic speaker who can translate for me. I have a few ideas, but I really need the Lord's leading in this. I will be continuing with my Mabaan ladies Bible-reading group as well. God is doing amazing things in the hearts of people in Doro. Thanks so much for your prayers. :)

 

I am sure that you have all been hearing about the troubles in South Sudan. We have been experiencing some of these uprisings and fighting in Doro as well in the past few months. We have seen the Lord answer our prayers in some incidences, but the fighting in the refugee camps continue (it is between a few of the tribes in our refugee camps). A few of our Mabaan church pastors have formed a peace & reconciliation committee to try to bring a stop to this fighting. These same Mabaan church pastors are meeting with all church pastors & leaders from these other tribes, in order to solidify the Body of Christ into one.  Please pray that the Sudanese Church will stand strong, pray & help each other, and will lead the way towards peace & reconciliation in this troubled land.

 

Thank you again for your faithful prayers, letters of encouragement and support for me. They are invaluable and cherished. God's blessings to all of you.

 

In the Joy of Serving Jesus,

Sandy

 

PS: Sorry for not writing in my new blog, but my computer’s main board has died while I was in Doro. Very frustrating for me! I am able to save the hard drive, but the computer is unusable. I will have to get a new one while I am here in Canada. When this happens, I will be writing my Doro stories to share with you. :)